10 Notable Diet Books of 2008

Around every New Year, publishing houses flood bookstore shelves with a plethora of new diet titles, hip to the hordes of repentant holiday bingers who are desperately trying to make their weight-loss resolutions stick. And there are more and more of us in that category every year. The new crop of diet books runs the gamut — from low-carb to vegan to anti-caffeine to tea-around-the-clock. Some books appear based on sound nutritional advice; others decidedly less so. TIME's Andrea Sachs explores the 10 most notable diet books of the New Year.

New Year, New Diets

Women's Health Perfect Body Diet

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By Cassandra Forsythe
Rodale; $24.95; 356 pages

Following the rules of nutritional educator Forsythe may not get you the "perfect" body — just your own best body. Sounds like a pretty good deal. Get ready to eat five or six small meals a day on this plan, and exercise six days a week. You'll also be supplementing your food with the dietary fiber glucomannan. According to the author, "It has the highest water-holding capacity of any soluble fiber — it can expand to up to 100 times its own water weight. ... Glucomannan has the unique ability to instantly satisfy your hunger because it can be easily added to foods to make them thicker and heavier." Fabulous fiber or a fiber fib? Either way, the diet promotes fiber-rich foods — a proven boon to health.

— Andrea Sachs